Before advancing further, Lordi halted just beyond the threshold, his voice cutting through the oppressive silence like drawing a blade.
"I come by the will of the Sword of Red Run," he declared, his tone firm but edged with wariness. "I seek the true Senior Brother Krogh Hanz. Know this—if I fall within the Ancestral Shrine, then the Krogh Hanz who dwells here is no man at all, but the vile Ju-On wearing his face!"
Before the last syllable of Lordi's challenge had fully faded, the bead curtain shivered—not from any wind, for the air was deathly still—but as if something unseen had reached through from the other side.
Then, with a sound like bones rattling in a coffin, the strands parted. An invisible force, vast and inexorable, seized him, not with the crude violence of a physical hand, but with the inevitability of a black hole's pull. His body lurched forward, muscles straining uselessly against the suction, his boots scraping furrows in the rotten tatami before he was ripped from the world he knew.
For a heartbeat—or an eternity—reality unraveled. His vision splintered into jagged fragments, colors bleeding into a nauseating whirl of grays and blacks, as though the very fabric of existence were being shredded around him. Then, cutting through the disorientation, the crisp, artificial chime of the AllFullOS System pierced the chaos.
~ Ding! *System Notification Chime*
[AllFullOS: Version 1.0.0]
> Detected external data.
> Analyzing...
> Pattern identified: [Unknown Cosmic Path Establishment Technique]
> Technique Recording initiated...
> Progress: 10%...
Even in freefall between realms, Lordi's mind sharpened. A legendary ascension technique—one lost to time, one that could elevate a cultivator beyond cultivator constraints—was now being etched into his system.
A thrill, hot and bright, flared in his chest, but his face remained a mask of ice.
Joy was a luxury.
Survival was the only priority.
Then the impact landed. Not physical, but existential, as the world snapped back into place. Lordi's vision cleared, revealing a landscape that defied the very concept of life.
Donovan's words kicked back in his mind .
This was a graveyard of otherworlds.
Ash stretched in every direction, a vast, colorless desert where the sky hung low and heavy, choked with swirling particulates of long-dead fires. The ground was not sand, but something finer, something wrong—the dust of crumbled bones, perhaps, or the remains of a civilization ground into oblivion. No wind stirred it. No sun scorched it. It simply was, a wasteland where time itself had withered.
And then came the movement.
A ripple in the ash, subtle as a serpent's coil beneath sand. At the periphery of his vision, a figure flickered, not quite solid, not quite real—a shadow given sentience, a blade drawn from the throat of the void.
All at once, the man was there.
Seated cross-legged upon a futon of black silk so deep it seemed to drink the light, the man was less a cultivator and more a chaos to annihilation. His robes, the hue of a blizzard at midnight, draped over a frame built for slaughter. His skin was the pallor of a corpse left in frozen wastes—no flush of blood, no hint of warmth.
But it was the eyes that stunned him.
Half-lidded, glacial, they gleamed like mercury frozen mid-drip—liquefied metal turned to killing frost. The pupils were not mere black, but voids, pits that devoured light, that promised an end without remembrance. To meet that gaze was to stand bare before an executioner who had already decided your death was inevitable.
His hair, iron-gray and unbound, spilled over his shoulders like the frayed edges of a noose, strands shifting not with any breeze, but with the restless energy of his own suffocating aura.
The air around him warped, buckling under the weight of his cultivation. Every breath Lordi took was laced with the scent of iron and endless winter—the metallic bite of blood-soaked snow, the kind that buried battlefields and left no witnesses.
The man exhaled.
His breath did not fog.
Because even the cold knew better than to touch him.
Lordi carefully peeked around. However, No trace of any squad members of remained of Donovan's Dominator Squad or Garrick Blackthorn, who had vanished behind the curtain before.
The male cultivator's gaze fixed on Lordi, a faint but warm smile curling his lips.
"Haha. The aura radiated from your footwork art is somewhat feels familiar to me, Junior Brother. Could it be that you have been to we Hanz Clan Ancestral Shrine before?" Sizing Lordi, the cultivator's tone was warm, almost jovial, a stark contrast to the desolate void.
"This senior didn't manage to seize the chance to meet you at that time, but it seems like my Natal Soulbound Spirit Sword has brought us together again by chance." His words were disarming, attitude sincere and warm.
His voice remained smooth and warm, a calm river flowing over the distant between them.
"I am well aware," he continued, "that you and our fellow sect comrades came to my Hanz Estate with a single, paramount goal: to seize the opportunity to ascend to the Foundation Stage via the legendary Cosmic Path."
He paused, allowing the weight of that coveted ambition to hang in the air. "The truth poem does not mince words on the matter: 'No mercy waits, no gentle hand to guide, Through blood and fire, the Dao is earned, not tried.' It is a brutal truth we all must acknowledge. The path to power is never clean, and it is never granted. It is taken. Therefore, while I cannot forget the wreckage you brought upon my Hanz Clan, I can, on some level, understand the desperate drive that compelled you to do it. Your actions, though grievous, were a testament to the poem's harsh lesson."
"Since you've found me, the real Krogh Hanz here. Why not you go convince the Sword of Red Run to join his real master here in the Ancestral Shrine, and I'll bestow the Cosmic Path Foundation Establishment Technique with open hands."
The man's attitude was sincere and warm, his offer was tempting, but Lordi's heart scoffed, laughed awkwardly at this scene—because the AllFullOS system was already recording the technique on going, rendering Krogh's promise useless to him. So why would he need Krogh Hanz to give it to him again?
Lordi met the cultivator's gaze, his own eyes carefully widening with a flicker of sincere-seeming admiration, masking the intense calculation beneath. He executed a shallow but impeccably respectful bow.
"Esteemed Senior Brother Krogh Hanz," he began, his voice carrying a note of earnest humility, "your understanding and magnanimity humble this junior."
"Yet… forgive my necessary caution, born of bitter experience. At the Ancient Stone Well upon the rear mountain, I encountered another man who bore your name and visage, making identical claims of authenticity and offering the same celestial ascension technique. In such a labyrinth of delusions, the Cosmic Path alone cannot pierce the veil of deception."
"But," Lordi paused a beat and then continued,his tone shifting to one of reverent awe, "the legends surrounding the true Senior Brother Krogh Hanz are etched in the annals of the outer sect, sung even in the inner halls. Tales of the peerless Abyss Tide Sword Art, a mastery so profound it marked you as the Abyss's own favored cultivation prodigy."
"This humble junior, though dull-witted and unworthy, has always burned with the desire to comprehend even a sliver of such formidable Sword Dao. Might I… might I beg the profound indulgence of witnessing a fragment of your insight? A single stroke, a whisper of the Abyss Tide's essence?"
"Not merely to illuminate my own ignorance, Esteemed Senior Brother, but to scatter the shadows of doubt and prove, beyond any artifice, that the legend himself graces this desolate place. Let your sword's truth be the light that banishes all falsehoods."
After a lingering moment of thoughtful silence, Krogh's handsome face softened into an approving smile. His erriely pale eyes regarded Lordi with the patience of a master instructing a promising disciple. "Very well, I find merit in your perspective." His tone was neither condescending nor dismissive, but rather that of a kind mentor acknowledging a student's fledgling insight.
The swordmaster straightened his broad shoulders. With the effortless grace of someone who had spent a lifetime with steel in hand, he began his explanation.
"The sword arts beneath heaven's boundless expanse are divided into four sacred disciplines," he intoned, his voice taking on the rhythmic quality of a bard recounting epic tales. "First comes the Telekinesis Sword, where blade dances at thought's command. Then ascends the Spirit Sword, where Artifact weapon and wielder breathe as one. Higher still soars the Aura Sword, where intent itself becomes cutting edge. And at the pinnacle..."
Here his eyes took on a faraway gleam, "...resides the Mind Sword, where consciousness alone can sunder stars. While each path grows more arduous than the last, none can say which reaches greatest heights, for every stroke that defies heaven's will, every slash that challenges the abyss's laws, carries within it the indomitable essence of the Sword Path."
Noticing the well-balanced blade resting against Lordi's back, Krogh's expression warmed further. "Ah, but I see you walk the Blade Path's road," he observed, his voice as welcoming as a hearth in winter. "Sword technique and blade method may seem different beasts, but they're merely two streams flowing toward the same ocean—both seek that sublime moment where a single stroke can stand against million foes."
His hands sketched an arc through the air, demonstrating perfect edge alignment. "The true warrior knows all steel sings the same song when wielded with understanding."
He settled into a slash stance, his movements as natural as breathing. "Let me illuminate the Telekinesis Sword for you."
Krogh began, "At its core, it represents the sacred alchemy of elevating mortal combat to cultivator's art through spirit energy's transformative power. Consider the mortal Force Sword method—where draw and sheathe become poetry of violence, each movement crisp as winter's first frost. When such a swordsman strikes..."
Krogh's arm blurred momentarily, "...the world hears thunder's promise before the steel even whispers from its scabbard."
He paused, letting the imagery settle. "Or observe the mortal Flying Sword style," he continued, hands now flowing like water, "where stroke becomes calligraphy and every slash inks another stroke upon reality's parchment—continuous as summer rains, relentless as tide upon shore."
The master's voice dropped to a conspiratorial rumble, rich with hard-won wisdom. "But remember this, young practitioner: raw force is the crudest brush for painting victory." His index finger tapped meaningfully against his temple. "Strategy is the artist's hand that guides it. To conquer through swordplay alone shows competent technique..."
His eyes suddenly blazed with inner fire, "...but to command through mastery of mind? That is the hallmark of true supremacy. Steel may subdue the body, but only wisdom can command the soul."
Krogh's lecture unfolded like an intricately forged blade—each concept honed to razor sharpness, every principle tempered in the fires of experience. His voice resonated through the empty space around them, filling the void with the palpable weight of his knowledge. The way his hands moved suggested countless duels fought and won, while the depth behind his eyes spoke of philosophical truths carved into being through decades of meditation between battles.
Lordi maintained an attentive expression, though the advanced concepts slipped through his mental grasp like mist through fingers. As a cultivator from a different path and of significantly lesser strength than the legendary Krogh Hanz, much of the wisdom remained tantalizingly out of reach. Yet he nodded at appropriate intervals, the picture of a diligent student, all while his AllFullOS system worked tirelessly in the background to record every data of the Cosmic Path Foundation Establishment Technique.
Just as Lordi was calculating how much longer he needed to maintain this charade, the AllFullOS System chimed unexpectedly in his mind—a development he hadn't anticipated.
~ Ding! *System Notification Chime*
[AllFullOS: Version 1.0.0]
> Detected external data.
> Analyzing...
> Pattern identified: [Unknown True Insights of Sword Path]
> Dao Insights Recording initiated...
> Progress: 10%...
…
Hours passed, Krogh's lecture unbroken, until the system chimed again.
~ Ding! *System Notification Chime*
[AllFullOS: Version 1.0.0]
> Progress: … 99%... 100%
> New cultivation technique added to database: [Untitled Cosmic Path Foundation Establishment Technique #0001]
> Recording complete.
> Please rename the technique!
~~~Author PS~~~
Okay, seriously now... take a guess! Who in the abyss world is the real Krogh Hanz? 🤔